Lightning Storm in Space
by reine-des-rythmes
Summary: Short missing - and necessary! - scene. Taking those first steps toward the "friendship that would define them both." NOT slash.


_Disclaim. _

A/N: _This is a direct result of having Star Trek:2009 saved to my computer to watch whenever I want. I re-watched the "3 people from 2 targets onto 1 pad" scene and for the first time ever, I noticed how wrong it was that Bones doesn't even do his how-badly-injured-are-you-this-time-Jim dance. He just grabs Pike and runs off to sickbay with his med team. Yeah, right. This is the missing scene that makes it all better._

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"Jim!" McCoy yells as the doors slide open, and the doctor sprints through the slim space between before they've finished, tailed by Uhura and a bunch of other people Kirk assumes tiredly are nurses. Captain Pike's weight across his shoulders is threatening to drag him down, but McCoy grabs the weakened man's other side and the physical burden lifts and disappears. Kirk kicks his brain into another gear—_no rest for the wicked _crosses his mind—and begins his own sprint through the doors.

His brain takes a moment to recharge so he doesn't notice the corridors blurring past or the people yelling around him as he runs. The next thing he's aware of is the smooth hum of the turbolift as it carries him to the bridge. There's a hypospray in his hand, and his hands are fumbling with it. When did that get there?

The quiet suddenly stuns him. His head jerks up, and he meets a weird, unfathomable glance from Uhura and a concerned look from Spock, who are both on the lift with him.

This is a more troublesome and confusing dilemma than the hypospray, so he returns his attention to that. _Lesser of two evils_ and _command decisions_ and _you will experience fear_ bang around in his head, and he wonders how the hell Bones could always get the damn thing to work whenever Kirk _didn't_ want it...

"Captain?" A query from Spock, and dizzily his mind has focused back on the pair of them. He is vaguely aware that he is squinting, which probably isn't very captainly.

_Spock just called me Captain_.

He takes a moment to revel in the genuinely warm feeling that trickles down his skin from his scalp to his fingers. His eyes are closed.

"Captain-"

"You called me Jim," mouths Kirk, smiling and lacking the energy to even breathe now. Also, breathing and talking _hurt_. Aliens should really just give up trying to choke him to death. (It clearly hasn't worked so far.)

"Spock?" That's Uhura, he thinks. It's hard to tell when she's being worried about him. "What _happened_ to him?"

Spock doesn't answer her, or Kirk doesn't hear him. His eyes are still closed. He might be sliding down the wall of the lift. He shifts his foot to brace himself, and sends himself careening towards the floor.

Spock catches him. He opens his eyes. "You called me Jim," he tells him in a voice that feels and sounds like steel ripping, and stares into his eyes.

Those pointy eyebrows draw together in the way that means Spock is both worried and uncertain. "Yes," he agrees, stealing the hypo.

"No—" Jim says. "Bones gave it to me. Stimulant." He holds out his hand from his position against the wall. "Give it back."

Spock looks at the hypo in curiosity, and his expression doesn't change when his eyes shift back to Kirk. "Are you certain—"

"I've gotta finish it," he tells him, jaw clenching. Their eyes meet again, and for the first time, Kirk realizes that they are different now. Spock is with him on this. (They're a little bit closer. To what _they _had.) "I have to, Spock. Just lemme take the stimulant."

Spock turns it over in his hand, seems to realize that McCoy would not have given the drug to Kirk without good reason, and passes it back to him.

"Thanks," Kirk mumbles, and falls back heavily against the wall. His skull rings after connecting with the cool metal paneling. The hypo is forgotten.

Spock realizes this too. He draws close again and slips it out of Kirk's hand. "Jim, you require rest," he says quietly.

His eyes are shut again, but he frowns at the ceiling. "Stimulant. Hurry. Gonna crash."

He doesn't see the hesitancy in Spock's eyes as he releases the drug into an artery in Kirk's neck. "After."

Kirk gulps air like it's leaking into space, which, you know, it probably is. His eyes—clear, determined, and focused—meet Spock's carefully neutral gaze. "After," he confirms. He nods a thank-you, the lift doors open, and the _Narada_ is falling apart on the viewscreen in a lightning storm in space.


End file.
